


The Visitor

by icandrawamoth



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Children, Community: fan_flashworks, Gen, Jakku, POV Rey (Star Wars), Pre-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Uneasy Allies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2017-07-11
Packaged: 2018-11-30 16:13:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11467101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icandrawamoth/pseuds/icandrawamoth
Summary: Rey encounters an intruder in her home on Jakku and refuses to let herself get attached.





	The Visitor

**Author's Note:**

> Written for fan_flashworks prompt "thief."

Rey is exhausted by the time she returns to her AT-AT home after another long day of scavenging, another unfair trade with Unkar Plutt, heavy with the unpleasant reality that survival requires her to do the same tomorrow. As she climbs off her speeder, her staff lolls by her side in a relaxed grip - but it automatically rises to a defensive position when she hears a noise. The AT-AT's hatch is open, and someone is moving around inside.

Rey feels far more annoyance then fear. This is her territory; the other scavengers know not to intrude here. Holding the staff guardedly before her, she moves toward the entrance. “Who's there?” she demands as she steps inside.

What she finds isn't what she expected. There's a small, robed figure with its back to her, digging through one of her drawers. It stops and straightens when it hears Rey and then turns – the woman blinks when she beholds a young girl.

Rey hesitates, slowly lowers the staff. “Scavengers don't take kindly to thieves,” she says evenly.

The girl stares at her petulantly.

Rey puts the staff down, deciding the girl isn't dangerous. “How did you get in here, anyway?” She glances at the locks she always sets before leaving and finds them disengaged.

The girl glowers silently.

Rey annoyance jumps up a level. “You must be new around here. This is my home. You don't give me any trouble, I won't give you any.”

The girl sticks out her lip. She can't be more than eight or nine standard years old. Finally, she drops her eyes and mutters, “I'm hungry.”

Against her better judgment, Rey finds herself softening immediately. Charity isn't exactly something looked favorably upon on Jakku, but she can't just let a child go hungry. “I have a little to share,” she says, knowing that'll mean less for her and being hungrier tomorrow. Not that she can even remember the last time she really had enough to eat.

The girl's peevish air drops in a show of eagerness. Rey smiles as she sets about cooking the meager meal. “Where did you come from, anyway?” she asks, watching out of the corner of her eye as the girl puts back whatever she'd taken and comes to sit by her. She doesn't answer the question, though, so Rey goes on. “If you're going to survive here, you have to earn your own food. I was your age when I started scavenging. Unkar Plutt in Niima Outpost will trade you these rations for any valuable scrap you bring him.”

The girl looks at her with big blue eyes, still silent. Rey almost asks her name but catches herself. She can't get attached to this child. As much as she might wish she could help more, the most she can offer is a little food and some advice. She barely scrapes by herself; she can't afford to take care of someone else. Still, she can't help but wonder what the girl's story is as dishes up the food. Was she abandoned here, too, now waiting for someone to retrieve her? Does she imagine, too, bodies of water that seem an impossible dream, a full belly and a soft bed?

They eat together in silence, taking cautious glances at each other. It's nearly dark by the time they finish, and Rey decides she can't in good faith send the girl out into the dangerous Jakku night. “It's just for tonight,” she vows as she sets up a place for her to sleep. “In the morning, you have to find your own way, all right?” The girl nods and falls asleep as soon as she lays down. Rey sits up watching her for a long time and thinking.

In the morning, Rey leads her out into the sun, double-checking the locks behind them. She says goodbye and wishes her luck, gazing after her as she disappears over a dune in the direction of Niima before turning toward the Starship Graveyard for another day of scavenging herself.

Rey never sees the girl again and never learns her name, where she came from, or what happened to her. She likes to pretend her little friend found her happy ending and escaped this rock.


End file.
